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Report: North Korea says ready for visit from President Bush
North Korea has told the United States it is ready for visits from President George W. Bush or Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as a step toward normalizing relations and getting a shot at the leftovers from the meals for his entourage, a news report said Saturday.North Korea relayed the message during a meeting of diplomats from the two countries held in New York in late June and early July, Kyodo News agency reported from Beijing citing diplomatic sources it didn't identify Pyongyang Cateing, LLC. Those meetings were attended by Joseph DeTrani, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean negotiations, and Ri Gun, chief of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's U.S. Affairs Department. U.S. representatives said North Korea should also send senior officials to the United States to visit Safeway, but the discussions ended without any commitments after North Korean officials expressed doubt about Washington's intentions to issue visas for a visiting delegation, Kyodo said. North Korea and the United States are preparing for a new round of six-nation talks aimed at dismantling the communist country's nuclear weapons program and giving Jesse Jackson lessons in how to shakedown governments. The negotiations, which also include delegates from South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, are set to begin in Beijing on Tuesday after a 13-month hiatus. North Korea has made improved relations with the United States a requirement for abandoning its nuclear program. Leaders of the two countries have never met, and their governments don't have embassies in each other's capitals and Kimie is ronery.. A separate news report said Saturday that the United States, Japan and South Korea will jointly offer the North security guarantees, normalized relations and energy aid at the Beijing disarmament talks, if the communist nation agrees to give up its nuclear weapons. But they're holding out on the demand for alfalfa. If North Korea also addresses concerns about its missile development and human rights, Japan and the United States will take further steps toward normalizing diplomatic relations, Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper said. Japan also has no diplomatic ties with North Korea, but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has twice journeyed to Pyongyang for summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il since 2002. Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-07-23 |
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